Reports of Societies. 



13 



Bradford Naturalists' Society. — Meeting June 25tli, the president 

 in the chair. — !Mr. B. Spencer gave an excellent account of a botanical 

 ramble in N. Wales, where he collected over 60 species of rare plants, 

 amongst which were Melianthemum canum, Asplenium marinumy 

 Spergularui marginata, Geranium prostatum, and Dianthus plumarius. 

 The president then gave an interesting account of a ramble in Hunting- 

 donshire, after which he distributed a case of insects, containing Col'ms 

 Edusa, GonopUnjx rhamni, Vanessa polycldoros, and Thecla quercns ; he 

 also showed Ophrys apifera. Messrs, Illingworth and Firth described 

 recent rambles at Thorn Moor and Wakefield. 



IVIeetixo July 9th, the president in the chair. — Mr. Saville read his 

 Isatural History Diary for the past six months, which proved extremely 

 interesting and instructive. IVIr. Illingworth showed a barn owl from 

 Kendal ; Mr. Firth, E. affinitata, E. palumharia, T. fimbria, and Cilia 

 spinidu, new to the district ; ]SIr. Suthers, E. .venosata also new to the 

 district ; IVIr. West, Carex capillaris, C. pulicaris, Viola lutea, V, 

 amcBna, Kceleria cristata, Eriphorum latifolinm, Galium syhestrey 

 Asplenium mride, Blysmus compressus, Polemonium coeruletim, TJialictnim 

 montanum, Cochlearia alpina, Hypericum montanum, Ruhus saxatilisj 

 and Rihes petroea from Malham ; Vaccinium Oxycoccos from Rombald's 

 Moor ; Saxifraga hypnoides, Rihes aJpinum, Poa nemoralis, Silene 

 nutans, Polypodium Rohertiaaum, Saxifraga granulata, Rhamnus 

 cafharticus, Hellehorus viridis, Avena puhesceiis, Ruhus Chamcemorus, and 

 Carex curta from near Buxton. Amongst the shells shown were 

 Breisena polymorpTux and Helix fuha, from Skipton.— Wm. West, Sec. 



Chichester and West Sussex Naturae History, &c.. Society. — 

 Monthly meeting, 11th June, the president in the chair. — Rev. E. A. 

 Fuller read an interesting paper on the Gyr-Falcon. This bird is essen- 

 tially a member of an arctic or sub-arctic fauna, its real home being in 

 the coldest regions of the far north, as Greenland or Iceland. In olden 

 times it had on several occasions been found in Shetland and the Ork- 

 neys, and very rarely in England or Ireland. The lecturer's attention 

 having been recently called to one of the Museum specimens, he had 

 been led to discover the confusion surrounding its nomenclature — some 

 authors giving but one species, some two, some three, and the latest four. 

 He then described the history of various discoveries of the bird or birds, 

 and noted the four species recently described in Brit. Mus. Cat., viz : — 

 Eierofalco candicans, Greenland and North America ; H. Islandus, Ice- 

 land, N W Europe and Britain ; H. Holhoelli, Greenland only ; and H, 

 Gyrfalco, X Europe, Asia, and N America. 



Goole Scientific Society. — Excursion July 13th, to Holme-on- 

 Spalding Moor, The party drove by road via Howden. The country 

 between Howden and Holme is a flat tract of barren clay land, presenting 

 few features of interest ; but around Holme the clay is covered with a 



